Syrian Forces Try to Seize Rebel-Held Areas South of Capital

Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Syrian government forces started an
offensive against rebels south of Damascus in an effort to
reverse territorial losses around the capital as President
Bashar al-Assad’s international isolation increased.

Forces loyal to Assad attempted to storm Daraya and added
reinforcements to the area, the U.K.based Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights said on its Facebook page today. Rebels seized
an infantry academy near the northern city of Aleppo, Al Jazeera
television reported without saying where it got the information.

Assad’s military has lost control of barracks, heavy
weapons, oilfields and roads across the country. Fighters
struggling to topple the government in Damascus have control of
mainly Sunni Muslim areas stretching from the northeastern
outskirts of the capital to the southwest of the city.

Syrian forces killed 45 civilians today, including 16 in
Damascus and its suburbs, the Observatory said an e-mailed
statement. At least 22 soldiers died in the fighting, the
group said.

European Union leaders yesterday agreed to look at all
options to help Syria’s opposition remove what they called Assad's
“illegitimate regime.”

‘Illegitimate Regime’

“Inaction and indifference are not options,” U.K. Prime
Minister David Cameron told reporters after an EU summit in
Brussels yesterday. “We’re saying all options, all options,
should be considered in order to help the opposition and enable
greater support to the protection of civilians. Nothing is off
the table.” He refused to be drawn on possible military action.

Using their strongest language yet, EU leaders said in a
statement that they’re “appalled” by the conflict in Syria,
where Assad’s government has been fighting rebels since March
2011, with the number of dead approaching 50,000. French and
U.K. proposals to alter the arms embargo on Syria to allow for
possible military support to the opposition will be discussed by
EU foreign ministers on Jan. 31, the leaders agreed.

The Syrian army pursued “armed terrorist groups” in the
Damascus countryside and killed and injured many, the state-run
Syrian Arab News Agency said, citing an unidentified government
official. The government describes rebels fighting the
government as terrorists.

Patriot Batteries

Assad is increasingly vulnerable, French President Francois
Hollande told reporters yesterday. Cameron said the Syrian
situation is not the same as that in Libya, where military
intervention assisted the overthrow of Muammar Qaddafi last
year.

“Syria is different to Libya; there are extra
complications and difficulties,” the British premier said when
asked if there would be military action. “The conversation now
is about what more we should do. We can’t go on as we are.”

More than 100 countries, including the U.K. and France,
have recognized Syria’s main opposition group as the legitimate
representative of the country’s people, cementing its status as
a government-in-waiting. They warned Assad that using his
stockpiles of chemical weapons would invite military action.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta signed an order
allowing the deployment of two Patriot anti-missile batteries as
well as 400 U.S. personnel to Turkey, Pentagon spokesman George
Little said yesterday.